It is known that a group of computing resources that perform one or more related functions may be referred to as a “computing center.” Typically, a computing center may be composed of a number of processor resources (e.g., servers), disk storage, applications, software tools, and internal communication links between the various devices and with the external clients. Clients send their jobs to the system through an external network and jobs are queued and processed through the system. Results may be received by clients during the process or only at the end of the process. Computing centers may take on a number of forms such as, for example, web server farms, scientific computing centers, or on-demand facilities for general computing use. However, all such forms may have a number of underlying common features.
Existing resource management techniques used in computing centers aim to satisfy constraints associated with the computing needs of the current clients of the system. Thus, consideration of the computing needs of a client to a computing center, as handled by an existing resource management system, essentially only takes into account processor power and required memory. However, consideration of the definition and pricing of service offerings on the system is typically handled separate from and independent of the resource management system.
Some recent work described in the U.S. patent application identified as Ser. No. 09/832,438, filed on Apr. 10, 2001, and entitled “Apparatus and Methods for Maximizing Service-Level-Agreement Profits,” involves combining more detailed, service-oriented characteristics, such as “service classes,” and performing the resource allocation to those clients with the goal of revenue maximization through some unit revenue for job satisfaction and some unit cost (penalty) for non-satisfaction of the service level agreement offered to that “service class.”
However, this latter methodology, while it may consider revenue in view of resource allocation, it does not allow, as controls, anything other than the resource allocation (that is, the answer to the question “where is the client's request placed in the system?”) and the job scheduling (that is, the answer to the question “in what order are the requests carried out at each location of the system?”). In other words, the above methodology takes as given, some fixed revenue or cost that accrues to the system owner/manager if the request is satisfied or not.
Further, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,526,392, issued on Feb. 25, 2003, and entitled “Method and System for Yield Managed Service Contract Pricing,” a method determines a single price for a generic “service” from the value of the optimal cost of the service evaluated at one more “unit” of the service. The generic service should then charge that price, which is computed as the difference in cost to the firm of providing one extra unit of service. However, in such a method, a service offering is defined only by the single price.
Thus, a need exists for improved management techniques associated with computing centers.